The long-anticipated world premiere of the new children’s circus show by Head First Acrobats attracted capacity crowds over the weekend. Most of the audience were under the age of ten and laughed themselves silly…
Reviews/Circus/Fringe World Festival
Coolest cavemen
20 January 2020
- Reading time • 3 minutesFringe World Festival
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Review: Head First Acrobats, PreHysterical ·
Woodside Pleasure Gardens, 29 January 2020 ·
Review by Rosalind Appleby ·
The long-anticipated world premiere of the new children’s circus show by Head First Acrobats attracted capacity crowds over the weekend. Most of the audience were under the age of ten and laughed themselves silly as three foolish Neanderthals bumbled their way (albeit with extreme athleticism!) around the stage.
PreHysterical lives up to expectations, following in the footsteps of the Melbourne group’s 2019 Fringe show Arrr We There Yet? with another perfect blend of comedy and spectacle.
The (very loose) plot revolves around the club-wielding cavemen as they navigate the perils of growling tigers and grumbling tummies. Somehow this story line is spun out for 45 minutes of crazy fun. Isaac Lawry is loveable as the dense Ow, Thomas Gorham is the athletic and reckless Err, and the smartest of them all is the drawing, hunting and hula hooping Rok (Chelsea Angell). They are the coolest cavemen a kid could hope for: eating snot and cracking fart jokes as they flip and break dance across the stage.
A few well designed props and clever lighting conjures up an animal boneyard, a tiger net, a campfire and a river of electric eels. Any excuse really for some trapezing, aerial silks and balancing.
The four kids with me gave five stars to the amazing hula hooping, the apple swapping foolery and the exciting story. I’m not sure what they meant about the exciting story (!) but the plot was made almost redundant anyway by the fabulous banter, pumping sound track and spectacular acrobatics. This is a show packed with stunts and although there were fumbles landing a few, it was a classy production. PreHysterical is the complete package.
PreHysterical continues until 9 February 2020. Head First Acrobats are also presenting the adult shows Railed and Circus’Cision.
Picture top: Isaac Lawry, Thomas Gorham and Chelsea Angell as the three lovable Neanderthals.
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